Building corner post and bracket therefor



Jan. 4, 1966 (3y w. KOERNER BUILDING CORNER POST AND BRACKET THEREFOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 5, 1962 [)7 van a: or.- Cbar/es W Koerner;

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Jan. 4, 1966 c. w. KOERNER 3,226,906

BUILDING CORNER POST AND BRACKET THEREFOR Filed May 5, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 'My invention relates to building construction and particularly to corner posts and a bracket to be used to form a corner post.

In recent years, more and more effort has been expended by builders and the building trades to improve 3,226,906 Patented Jan. 4, 1966 FIG. 9 is a top plan view of my intersecting corner post mounted in a wall.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the outside corner post is designated ice generally by reference numeral 1 and primarily comprises construction and reduce the costs of construction. Many new construction methods have been devised but these have been restricted almost exclusively to large building construction and the improvements in home construction have been restricted to the introduction of new materials;

For example corner post construction whether it be for Sometimes blocks are used as spacers particularly least three pieces are needed to construct a corner post. Outside corner posts are made of three pieces and intersecting corner posts are made of three or four pieces and often include filler blocks. This type of construction uses a considerable amount of lumber and more important it is time consuming. These factors are especially significant because they directly affect the cost of building.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to eliminate the problem in present day cornerpost construction, set forth above, and yet to retain the structural advantages of the prior art.

Another object of this invention is to provide a lightweight corner post which may be prefabricated yet which has sufficient strength to function properly.

Still another object is to provide a bracket which can be used to construct both outside and intersecting corner posts.

Still a further object ofmy invention is to provide a bracket for corner post construction whereby the post can be made without regular st-udding material.

The objects of this invention are achieved by providing a bracket having means to secure upright members thereto to form a complete corner post.

Other objects and further details of that which I believe to be novel and my invention will be clear from the three upright members 2, 3 and 4 and a plurality of brackets 5. In the post shown it should be noted that upright members 2 and 3 are adjacent to each other while upright member 4 is positioned diagonally opposite members 2 and '3. This arrangement is preferred because it quite readily forms the desired corners 6 and 7 as can best be seen in FIG. 4.

While in a typical embodiment I prefer to use wooden members to construct my corner post it should be understood that metal or any other suitable material may be used. In this typical embodiment of an outside corner post I have found that three wooden upright members and five metal brackets will construct a satisfactory post. Because the ordinary corner post is eight feet long a post can be constructed by placing one bracket at the top, another at the bottom and positioning the remaining three brackets at two foot intervals. In such a manner I provide a corner post with more than enough structural strength for building requirements while at the same time. I provide a savings in labor cost and material.

Bracket 5 has a main body member 8 which has a first section 9 and a second section 10. In order to increase the rigidity of body 8, I provide sections 9 and 10 with perpendicular strengthening members 11. While the brackets 5 made of sheet metal have been found to be sufliciently strong for all uses I prefer to add members 11 to insure against accidental bending during assembly. Members 11 may be formed by bending although they may be formed by any other suitable process such as drawing.

In order to secure upright members 2, 3 and 4 to bracket 5, I provide a plurality of flanges which extend from and are substantially perpendicular to body 8. As can be plainly seen in FIG. 2 flanges 12 and 13 are attached to body section 9 and flanges 14 and 15 are attached to body section 10*.

Due to the narrow connecting section 16 between sections 9 and 10, I prefer to cut flange 15 so as to leave a triangular section 17. Section 17 gives the increased strength needed to prevent accidental bending of body 8 during assembly. The brackets shown in FIGS. 3

and 5 having relatively large connecting sections 16 so no additional strengthening is needed, however, the bracket shown in FIG. 6 is provided with triangular section 17 as is the bracket shown in FIG. 2. When bracket 5 is provided with section 17 upright member 4 must be following description and claims taken with the accom- FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the bracket shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the bracket shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of secting corner post;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a bracket used to construct the post shown in FIG. 7;. and

an interslotted to receive section 17.

Referring again to the typical embodiment of my invention previously mentioned I have provided one or more holes 18 in each of the flanges 12, 13, 14 and 15. Holes 18 are used to secure upright members 2, 3 and 4 to bracket 5 such as by nails 19 as shown in FIG. 1 or by any other suitable securing device such as screws, bolts or the like.

Bracket 5 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has been described in detail above. Referring now to FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 it can be seen that brackets 5 shown in each of these figures consists of a body member 8 having a first section 9 and a second section 10 and flanges 12 and 13 connected to section 9 and flanges 14 and 15 connected to section 10. The difference in size of bracket 5 shown in FIGS. 2, 3, S and 6 is because different size corner posts are needed for different walls. The size of bracket 5 and consequently corner post 1 is governed by the size studing used to construct the wall into which post 1 is to be placed.

In order to form a complete outside corner post 1 upright member 2 is secured to flange 12, upright member 3 is secured to flange 14 and upright member 4 is secured to flanges 13 and 15. Post 1 is constructed by using bracket 5 shown in FIG. 2 and is dimensioned to be used in walls made with 2 x 4s While members 2 and 3 are 2 x 2s and sections 9 and 10 are made to obtain proper dimensions for post 1. It should be understood that the sizes mentioned can be changed along with the bracket dimensions to adapt the resulting post to any size wall.

It is intended to use a 2 X 4 as member 4, a 1 X 3 as member 3 and a 1 x 2 as member 2 when using the form of bracket 5 shown in FIG. 3. In order to use similar upright members such as 2 X 2s bracket 5 would take the form shown in FIG. 5. The bracket shown in FIG. 6 uses the same size upright members as does the bracket shown in FIG. 3 with the exception of member 4 which is a 2 X 2 when using the form bracket 5 shown in FIG. 6.

When using one inch thick upright members it is sometimes difficult to secure them to bracket 5. Most of the securing members like nails 19 would pass through the upright members giving rise to a dangerous condition. To alleviate this problem I prefer to provide tabs 22 with holes 18 on brackets 5 shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 so that the nails may be driven into upright members parallel to the long dimension. In this manner a stronger post is constructed and tabs 22 are provided on flanges 12 and 14 which are secured to one inch thick upright members. In this manner a stronger post is constructed and no nails or other securing devices pass completely through the upright members.

It should be understood that the dimensions given are the dimensions used by the building trades and lumber dealers. In fact these are the dimensions by which al most everyone knows such pieces of lumber but the actual size is slightly different. The finished size, for example, of a one inch thick piece of lumber is actually three quarters of an inch.

While I have given examples of typical upright members to be used with diflerent forms of bracket 5 it should be understood that I do not intend to limit my invention to these examples. The size of the brackets and upright members can be varied and any combination can be used which will result in a post of the proper dimensions. It can be easily seen in FIG. 4 that the size of bracket 5 and members 2, 3 and 4 can be selected to give a proper size post 1 to correspond to the size of studs used to construct walls 21.

In order to construct intersecting corner posts I provide a form of bracket 5 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. As can readily be seen in these figures bracket 5 has a body member 8 having a first section 9 and a second section 10. Strengthening members 11 are provided to insure rigidity of body 8. In FIG. 7, I have shown a portion of an intersecting corner post 23 constructed in accordance with my invention. As can be seen post 23 is constructed by using a plurality of brackets 5 and four upright members 24, 25, 26 and 27.

In order to secure members 24, 25, 26 and 27 to bracket 5, I provide a plurality of flanges 28, 29, 30 and 31. Be-

cause typically only one inch thick upright members 24, 25, 26 and 27 will be used to construct post 23 flanges 28, 29, 30 and 31 are each formed with tabs 22 having holes 18 formed therein so that securing devices can be positioned parallel to the long dimension of members 24, 25, 26 and 27.

Once again referring to the typical embodiment members 2.4 and 27 can be 1 X 2s while members 25 and 26 can be 1 X 3s. The dimensions of section 9 can be chosen to adapt post 23 to fit a wall made with 2 X 3s or 2 X 4s.

Due to the fact that intersecting corner posts are positioned at any desired point along a wall I provide flange 32 having holes 18 formed therein to allow post 23 to be secured to the sheathing 33 of a wall 34. Corners 35 and 36 provided by post 23 give means to attach wall 37 to wall 34.

As will be evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of my invention are not limited to the particular details of construction of the example illustrated, and I contemplate that various and other modifications and applications will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, my intention that the appended claim will cover such modification and applications as do not depart from the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A composite structural corner post for buildings comprising, a plurality of vertically spaced brackets, each of said brackets comprising a body member having two offset sections, a first section and a second section, said sections connected together at adjacent corners forming two opposed rectangular recesses on opposite sides of said bracket, each of said sections having a pair of flanges secured thereto in a perpendicular relationship to said body member, said flanges secured to the edges of said sections adjacent said recesses, a first upright member secured in one recess to one of said flanges from said first section and .one of said flanges from said second section, a second upright secured in the other recess to the remaining flange of said first section and a third upright secured in the last mentioned recess to the remaining flange of said second section, adjacent surfaces of said second and third upright members being in abutting perpendicular relationship to thereby form on inside corner therebetween.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,327,741 1/1920 Shuman 146 1,945,925 2/1934 Stiefel 20-94 2,409,060 10/ 1946 Moore 20-99 2,666,238 1/1954 Hagedorn 2095 2,723,107 11/1955 Parker 2092 X FOREIGN PATENTS 944,210 10/ 1948 France.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

JACOB L. NACKENOFF, Examiner. 

